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Product Bulletin No. 2304

This Product Bulletin introduces seven new software upgrade licenses for the Cisco 2600 Series Multiservice Access Routers. The upgrade licenses are tailored for the new software feature sets introduced for the Cisco 2600XM and 2691 platforms with Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.3.

Important Note: These software upgrade licenses only apply to Cisco 2600XM and 2691 platforms deploying the new Cisco IOS Software 12.3 Feature Sets. Cisco 2600 Non-XM platforms do not support these feature sets.

Overview

This Product Bulletin introduces seven new software upgrade licenses for the Cisco 2600XM and 2691 Multiservice Access Routers. The upgrade licenses are tailored for the new software feature sets introduced with Cisco IOS Software Release 12.3.

Software upgrade licenses allow customers to migrate from one Cisco IOS feature set to another. Throughout the lifecycle of a Cisco multiservice access router, requirements for services and applications change. An example could be the decision to migrate from a Frame-Relay based VPN to an Internet-based IPSec VPN. In many cases, such a migration will require an upgrade of the Cisco IOS software feature set, adding advanced security features to the capabilities of the router.

Software upgrade license(s) together with the original router software license constitute the entitlement to deploy the new feature set. Note that purchase of a software upgrade license does not include delivery of the new software image itself. It can be downloaded from Cisco.com or it can be obtained from your Cisco partner or customer services representative.

Product IDs and Descriptions

The following Cisco IOS 12.3 software upgrade licenses are available for the Cisco 2600XM and the Cisco 2691 Multiservice Access Routers.

Questions and Answers

Q. What is a Cisco IOS software upgrade license?

A. Software upgrade licenses allow customers to migrate from one Cisco IOS feature set to another. Throughout the lifecycle of a Cisco multiservice access router, requirements for services and applications change. An example is a decision to migrate from a Frame-Relay based VPN to an Internet-based IPSec VPN. In many cases, such a migration will require an upgrade of the Cisco IOS software feature set, adding advanced encryption and security features to the capabilities of the router.

Q. When do I purchase which Cisco IOS software upgrade license?

A. The diagram below shows how Cisco IOS software upgrade licenses support moves from one Cisco IOS 12.3 feature set to another. To understand the services provided by each feature set, please refer to Product Bulletin No. 2088 for Cisco 2600XM or Product Bulletin No. 2089 for Cisco 2691. To determine the exact feature content of a feature set, refer to Cisco IOS Feature Navigator or Cisco IOS Upgrade Planner . A Cisco.com account is required for the latter two URLs.

A. The software upgrade license delivers a software entitlement document to the customer. It is a written record and should be maintained in a safe place. Ordering of a software upgrade license requires knowledge of the desired router platform and the current and desired feature set. There is no need to specify a particular software release.

Q. What does it replace?

A. The new Cisco IOS 12.3 software upgrade licenses do not replace any of the existing upgrade licenses. They are added to support feature set migrations in Cisco IOS releases 12.3, 12.3T and onwards.

Q. How do I migrate from a Cisco 12.2 IOS Feature Set to a Cisco IOS 12.3 Feature Set?

A. This is not necessarily a matter of upgrading the feature set. The feature set structure changed with Cisco IOS Release 12.3. The supported migration paths from a particular Cisco IOS Release 12.2 Feature Set to comparable Cisco IOS Release 12.3 Feature sets is described in Product Bulletin No. 2088 for Cisco 2600XM or Product Bulletin No. 2089 for Cisco 2691. Customers with a valid SmartNet contract can migrate along the supported migration paths free of charge.

Q. How do I combine an upgrade with the migration from a Cisco IOS 12.2 Feature Set to a Cisco IOS 12.3 Feature Set?

A. Customers with a valid SmartNet contract can opt for one of two paths:

A. Upgrades are only supported along incremental paths, e.g. the addition of security features to the Enterprise Services feature set is supported by the software upgrade license to Advanced Enterprise Services (FL26-ESK9-AESK9=). Software upgrade licenses do not support the swapping of one technology for another, e.g. there is no upgrade path between Advanced Security and Enterprise Base.

In addition, each router product family has a number of special purpose Feature Sets for services like H.323 Gatekeeper, SNA Switching and IP to IP Gateways. Upgrade licenses from Enterprise Services to these special purpose Feature Sets are available for some, but not all, special purpose Feature Sets.